A team of personnel from the forest and police departments, on Thursday morning launched a hunt for the tiger that was recently released in the Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary, protected area nestled in the Western Ghats.
The tiger on target was captured after it killed a woman in Pandaravalli village near Mullayanagiri Hills of Chikkaballapura taluk three days ago. It was subsequently released near Talawade village falling under the Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary in Khanapur taluk’s Hemmadga Forest Range on Wednesday morning.
Since the big cat had tasted human blood and was released just one kilometre away from the Talawade village, the villagers were angry and staged protest. They held the forest officials captive for some time and allowed them to leave only after obtaining assurance that the tiger would be captured once again and released at a safer distance. The residents felt that release of the tiger in very close proximity to their village (with nearly 20 other villages/human settlements nearby) had made their lives and that of their cattle unsafe.
Prashant P.K.M., Assistant Conservator of Forests told The Hindu on Thursday that the tiger was radio-collared and would be trapped. However, he did not rule out the possibility of some delay considering the difficult terrains and wide forest area. He said the villagers have been advised to be watchful and inform the forest or police personnel if the tiger was sighted.
